News | DirectConnect | 2010 | 2010-02-19

February 19, 2010

February 19, 2010

Announcements

Frank Slack Appointed to Lead Genetics and Genomics

The Yale Cancer Center Executive Committee recently approved the appointment of Frank Slack, PhD, Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, as Director of the Center's Genetics and Genomics Research Program. Frank uses

C. elegans

to study the role of microRNAs, including

lin-4

and

let-7

, in gene expression. His research has shown that human

let-7

is expressed in the lung and regulates the expression of important oncogenes implicated in lung cancer, including

RAS

. He is now focused on the role of

let-7

in regulating proto-oncogene expression during lung development and cancer.

The Genetics and Genomics Research Program will incorporate the strengths of the Cancer Genetics Research Program and Functional Genomics Research Program into a new, fully integrated program led by Dr. Slack.

YNHH Continues Advertising for Smilow

Yale-New Haven Hospital is a sponsor of the local broadcast of the XXI Winter Olympics. More than 70 commercials featuring Smilow Cancer Hospital will air during the two weeks of competition on NBC's Connecticut affiliate WVIT-Channel 30.
Watch Now >>

Oncodermatology Clinic to Open in Smilow

I am pleased that Dr. Jennifer Choi, Assistant Professor of Dermatology, will lead the Yale Oncodermatology Clinic scheduled to open in Smilow Cancer Hospital this spring. The purpose of the clinic is to serve the dermatologic needs of cancer patients. Such issues include very dry skin, itching, skin changes as side effects from chemotherapy including rashes, nail and hair changes, skin infections, cancer involvement of the skin, radiation dermatitis, and other changes due to radiation. In addition, Dr. Choi specializes in caring for patients with skin cancer, beginning with rigorous skin screening examinations to detect skin cancers and sun damage early and optimize prevention and therapy.

Smilow Update

Pharmacy Services will move into its new location on the 8th floor of Smilow this weekend to begin serving the needs of our patients. In addition, the Hematology Program is set to begin seeing patients on the 7th floor of Smilow Cancer Hospital on Monday. The following week, March 1st, Pediatric Hematology and Oncology will start caring for their patients in Smilow.

All current patients are receiving information regarding the transition of their care and directions and parking information for Smilow Cancer Hospital by mail prior to each Program's move into the new facility. Please contact Emily Fenton if you would like additional copies of the directions and parking information to provide to patients or posters to hang in your clinic announcing the move.

Download the Parking Information >>

Research in the News

Yale Scientists Shed Colorful Light on Novel Proteins

A Yale School of Medicine neuroscientist investigating how viruses can be used to attack brain cancers has developed a new method to generate novel, color-coded proteins that can be used by researchers investigating cures for a host of diseases.

Anthony N. van den Pol, professor of neurosurgery and a member of the Yale Cancer Center Molecular Virology Research Program, and molecular biologist John N. Davis describe the new technique in the February issue of the

Journal of Virology

.

The two researchers show how to use a mutation-prone virus engineered to express fluorescent proteins in order to generate new proteins of interest to scientists. This virus not only generates mutated genes that code for these proteins but also can express them within cells so scientists can study their function.

Yale Scientists Synthesize Unique Family of Anti-Cancer Compounds

Yale University scientists have streamlined the process for synthesizing a family of compounds with the potential to kill cancer and other diseased cells, and have found that they represent a unique category of anti-cancer agents. Their discovery appears in this week's online edition of the

Journal of the American Chemical Society.

The team studied a family of compounds known as the kinamycins, which are naturally produced by bacteria during metabolism and are known for their potent toxicity. For years scientists have guessed that a core structure common to the different compounds within the group was responsible for this toxicity. Until now, chemists could not study the core structure because there was no simple way to create it in the laboratory.

Recent Publications

Multiplexed Assessment of the Southwest Oncology Group-Directed Intergroup Breast Cancer Trial S9313 by AQUA Shows That Both High and Low Levels of HER2 Are Associated with Poor Outcome.

Harigopal M, Barlow WE, Tedeschi G, Porter PL, Yeh IT, Haskell C, Livingston R, Hortobagyi GN, Sledge G, Shapiro C, Ingle JN, Rimm DL, Hayes DF.
Am J Pathol. 2010 Feb 11.
Read More >>

Exploiting cellular senescence to treat cancer and circumvent drug resistance.

Yan Q, Wajapeyee N.
Cancer Biol Ther. 2010 Feb 11;9(3).
Read More >>

Immunity to stemness genes in human cancer.

Dhodapkar MV.

Curr Opin Immunol. 2010 Feb 8.
Read More >>

To Stimulate or Withdraw? A Cost-Utility Analysis of Recombinant Human Thyrotropin Versus Thyroxine Withdrawal for Radioiodine Ablation in Patients with Low-Risk Differentiated Thyroid Cancer in the United States.

Wang TS, Cheung K, Mehta P, Roman SA, Walker HD, Sosa JA.
J Clin Endocrinol Metab. 2010 Feb 5.
Read More >>

Classification of the thoroughness of mediastinal staging of lung cancer.

Detterbeck F, Puchalski J, Rubinowitz A, Cheng D.
Chest. 2010 Feb;137(2):436-42.
Read More >>

Vasculogenesis Driven by Bone Marrow-Derived Cells Is Essential for Growth of Ewing's Sarcomas.

Yu L, Su B, Hollomon M, Deng Y, Facchinetti V, Kleinerman ES.
Cancer Res. 2010 Feb 2.
Read More >>

CLOCK in Breast Tumorigenesis: Genetic, Epigenetic, and Transcriptional Profiling Analyses.

Hoffman AE, Yi CH, Zheng T, Stevens RG, Leaderer D, Zhang Y, Holford TR, Hansen J, Paulson J, Zhu Y.
Cancer Res. 2010 Feb 2.
Read More >>

Perspectives for Preventive and Therapeutic HPV Vaccines.

Lin K, Doolan K, Hung CF, Wu TC.
J Formos Med Assoc. 2010 Jan;109(1):4-24.
Read More >>

Defining future directions in spinal cord tumor research.

Claus EB, Abdel-Wahab M, Burger PC, Engelhard HH, Ellison DW, Gaiano N, Gutmann DH, Heck DA, Holland EC, Jallo GI, Kruchko C, Kun LE, Maria BL, Rumboldt Z, Seminara D, Spinella GM, Stophel L, Wechsler-Reya R, Wrensch M, Gilbertson RJ.
J Neurosurg Spine. 2010 Feb;12(2):117-21.
Read More >>

Diet, lifestyle, and acute myeloid leukemia in the NIH-AARP cohort.